LDSB loses ground in standardized testing; lags behind provincial average

Jeff Green | Oct 05, 2016

Debra Rantz found herself in a bit of a difficult position last week. She has been in her role as director of education for the Limestone District School Board for just over a year, but before that she spent over two years as the chief assessment officer for the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO).

At a committee meeting at the board office last week she introduced an information session on the latest set of EQAO results for students in the Limestone Board, based on testing that took place last spring.

In just about every category the percentage of Limestone students who achieved the provincial standard has dropped. This was true of Grade 3 and 6 students taking standardized tests in reading comprehension, writing, and mathematics; for Grade 9 students taking a standardized test in math; and Grade 10 students taking the mandatory literacy test.

Limestone is not alone since results across the province dropped as well, at about the same rate as they did in Limestone.

Unfortunately, as in past years, students in the Limestone Board are also less likely to be at or about the provincial standards than those in the province as a whole, by a persistently wide margin.

In the latest set of results, 62% of Grade 3 students at the LDSB achieved the standard in reading (compared to 72% provincially); 64% achieved the standard in writing (compared to 74% provincially); and 50% achieved the standard in math (compared to 63% provincially).

Among grade 6 students, 73% achieved the standard in reading (compared to 81% provincially); 57% in writing (compared to 80%); and 34% in math (50% provincially).

In Grade 9 math results, 77% of LDSB students in the academic stream achieved the standard (83% provincially); and 41% in the applied stream achieved the standard (45% provincially).

In the Grade 10 Literacy test, 73% of LDSB students passed (75% is the provincial average).

“I would say from our conversations with our leadership team we were not that surprised by the results. We are a little surprised by the literacy results, but I have to caution everyone that one year does not make a trend. I also need to tell you that if the results were better we would not be popping the champagne corks ... we have said always in Limestone that we want all of our students to participate and we look for the positive stories in the midst of what you might look at as a difficult story,” she said.

Krishan Burra, program superintendent with the LDSB, prepared a slide show that provided detailed context for the results, but before turning to him, Director Rantz made another comment about the meaning of the results, particularly the poor math results.

“When results like these come in there are always calls for back to basics. As a former EQAO employee, the students are demonstrating to us on EQAO that they know their times tables, but they do not know when to apply those skills. That flags for me that our students need to develop stronger understanding. I really feel passionate about that. There is a place for knowing our times table, but they need to go hand in hand with the thinking and our understanding,” she said

In a series of slides, Krishna Burra provided some context for the gap between the LDSB and the provincial average.

He pointed out that the percentage of boys to girls in the board is 52% to 48%, the provincially that ratio is 51% to 49%.

“We also know that girls tend to do better in standardized tests,” he said.

More tellingly, while 17% of students are designated as special needs across the province, 27% of LDSB students have the designation.

“While our special needs students do better than the provincial average for special needs students, they still lag behind students without special needs,” he said, which would lower the overall scores in the LDSB.

Even as far as the Grade 10 literacy test is concerned, there are interesting factors that Burra mentioned.

“Limestone encourages all students to take the test. Of our special needs students, 93% take the test and the provincial average is 85%. While 49% of our special needs students passed the test and the provincial average is 44%, it still affects our overall average,” he said.

Burra added that the board takes the position, and there is data to show it is a sound policy, that “students should be encouraged to succeed, even if they have not succeeded in the past.”

An example of this can be found in the Grade 9 math results. Students entering secondary school have the option of taking the academic or the applied stream in math.

A healthy percentage of students who do not achieve the standard in Grade 6 but nonetheless enter the academic stream, achieve the standard in Grade 9. A much lower percentage of those who opt for the applied stream.

“It is possible to succeed, and creating the expectation of success is one way to promote improvement,” he said.

Two hundred and fifty-six students, or 45%, who did not meet the provincial math standard in Grade 6, rose to the standard in Grade 9, and most of those were in the academic stream

A number of students in the LDSB have also been able to bring their writing levels up between testing in Grade 6 and the Grade 10 literacy test.

“In Limestone, 47%, or 156 students, who did not achieve the provincial writing standard in Grade 6, met the standard in Grade 10,” said a release from the board announcing the EQAO results.

The release, entitled “Previously unsuccessful students meet provincial standards in EQAO assessments” emphasized these successes while acknowledging that “results for the Limestone District School Board indicate there has been a drop in achievement across all levels.”